In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar and salt in the water. Refrigerate until very cold, about 30 minutes. During that time, refrigerate your butter, flour, mixer bowl, and paddle, too.

Make sure your butter is cut into 1/2-inch dice. Bigger pieces will make your dough puffy. In the chilled bowl, combine the cold butter and flour. With your hands, toss the butter in the flour until each cube is lightly coated.

With the chilled paddle, beat the flour-butter mixture on low speed to just break up the butter, about 30 seconds. Add the water mixture all at once and raise the speed to medium-low. Beat just until the dough comes together in big chunks, then immediately turn off the mixer.

Divide the chunks of dough in half and very gently pat each group into a round 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour, before rolling. You can refrigerate the disks for up to 1 day or freeze for up to 3 months.

Helpful Tips:

1. Make sure that all the ingredients are cold.

2. Mix with your fingertips, not your palms. Fingertips are cool, while your palms are hot.

3. When mixing the flour and butter, pick up some of the flour and butter, squeeze it, and drop it.

4. Make discs with the dough -- rather than a ball -- so that it is easier to flatten.

Contributors

I'm a recipe collector and have a filing cabinet full of recipes from scouring magazines, newspapers, trading with friends and my cherished family recipes that were passed on to me by family . . . some I have no idea where they came from. I attempt to list sources when I have them . . . I'm not trying to claim any recipe as mine unless it is . . . I'm a serious foodie . . . not a professional chef!

I will also be posting those recipes that look promising to me since I'm always looking for new recipes to try out.

I'm a third generation sicilian italian-cuban-american who was fascinated with everything that happened in the kitchen as I grew up, next to my nana's side . . . watching every move that she made. She started giving me little jobs to do in the kitchen to keep from stepping on me . . . I learned how to cook at a young age, throwing things together, rarely using measuring utensils. Cooking is a passion which takes lots of tasting and nurturing what you are cooking until it is just right.

Here's the twist to my italian cooking . . . I married a southern gentleman whose mom prepared the best southern comfort food meals . . . and as a young adult, I was right there by her side, learning how to cook southern style. He and I combined the two cooking styles into our own style that never disappointed our guests.

Since my southern gentleman passed away, I got used to cooking for one . . . so there is yet another twist to my cooking . . . cooking a big meal and turning it into totally different meals.

I've since remarried and my new husband (yep, another southern gentleman) has a similar cooking style . . . and we are perfecting the art of making great meals using leftovers :)